(Fairfield, CT) – The Sacred Heart Pioneer Baseball team, 2011 champions of the Northeast Conference, will play the Clemson Tigers in the Regional round of the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, announced Monday.

Clemson is hosting one of the 16 regional rounds at Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C., and will be the one seed taking on Sacred Heart as the four seed beginning on Friday. Each regional round is played as a double-elimination format with four teams in each bracket. Connecticut and Coastal Carolina will also play in the Clemson regional, with the Huskies as the number two seed and the Chanticleers as the three seed.

Sacred Heart reaches the field of 64 for the second time in program history after sweeping the Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament last weekend at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, CT. The Pioneers culminated a run of 11 consecutive conference wins with a 9-2 win over Monmouth Sunday, May 22 for their first NEC Championship since 2006. SHU enters the NCAA Tournament with their best-ever record of 34-21.

Clemson has won 27 of its last 33 games to enter the tournament with an overall record of 41-18, as well as a 17-13 record in the ACC.

Connecticut went 41-17-1 this season and won the Big East regular season championship with a conference record of 22-5, but lost to Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament. The Pioneers and Huskies played earlier this season on March 15 at Dodd Stadium, with Sacred Heart coming out on top 5-4.

Coastal Carolina (41-18, 26-6) goes to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season and 11th time overall as the champions of the Big South.

The winner of the Clemson regional will play the winner of the South Carolina regional next weekend in the Super Regionals.

Sacred Heart will play Clemson at 7:00 p.m. Friday night, with UCONN and Coastal Carolina playing before at 3:30 p.m.